Bucks sign free-agent center Miroslav Raduljica

St. Francis - One day after releasing big man Gustavo Ayon, the Bucks signed 7-foot-1, 280-pound Serbian center Miroslav Raduljica (rah-DOO-liht-zah) to a two-year contract on Friday.

The 25-year-old Raduljica played last year for Ukrainian club Azovmash, helping the team to the league finals and also playing in the EuroCup competition and the VTB United League (composed of teams in Russia and eight other Eastern European nations).

He was on loan from Turkish club Anadolu Efes, the same team Ersan Ilyasova played for during the NBA lockout in 2011.

Raduljica said he played 82 games in all competitions and he averaged 14.2 points and 5.9 rebounds in 53 games in the Ukrainian Superleague.

"Maybe for some people this is a surprise or whatever," Raduljica said after signing his contract at the Cousins Center. "For me, it's a logical next step. It's the biggest step in everybody's career. It's everybody's dream and it was mine. I'm very happy to be here and happy everything turned out so well."

A source indicated Raduljica signed a two-year, $3 million deal, with a third non-guaranteed year.

Bucks director of player personnel Dave Babcock said he first saw Raduljica play at age 18 for a club team (FMP) from the player's hometown of Belgrade.

Babcock said Raduljica might have been drafted in 2010 but he did not compete at the Eurocamp in Treviso that year after his club threatened to hold his pay if he participated. But his representatives did not communicate that to NBA scouts.

"Everybody thought he just dogged it," Babcock said. "Everybody thought this was a bad kid, and it had nothing to do with that. It just snowballed.

"I saw him play in Valencia last year. He actually played with Lynn Greer, one of our former players. He gave me Miroslav's cell number and we started communicating. So Lynn was a part of this."

Greer, who played at Temple, was on the Bucks roster during the 2006-'07 season.

Raduljica will be a backup to starting center Larry Sanders and veteran Zaza Pachulia, signed to a three-year, $15 million free agent deal.

"We've lacked the big, physical bodies in the middle and now we've got Zaza and Miroslav," Babcock said. "He can almost be Zaza's understudy. Zaza can teach him the ropes of the NBA."

Raduljica said he hopes to learn from Pachulia and everybody on the Bucks roster.

"I believe in myself; I trust myself," Raduljica said. "In my dreams, in my imagination of course I believed I could be in the NBA. But in that point of time (last year) I never thought this offer would come up.

"In the NBA everybody is physical, but I can play under the basket and I can shoot. I think I'm pretty quick for my size and my body. I'm sure I'm going to prove myself and you'll be surprised."

Babcock watched a EuroCup game in Valencia last November and Raduljica had 10 points and four rebounds in a 76-70 loss to the Spanish team.

"I'm here right now, maybe because of the game," Raduljica said. "In Serbia everybody follows the NBA and everybody knows everything about the NBA.

"I think every player has a dream. It's the biggest step in some player's career, that and the national team. It was my dream all the way."

Radjuljica had signed a five-year deal with Anadolu Efes in 2010 and the club previously loaned him to Alba Berlin in Germany and Partizan Belgrade.